UTILITIES

 

The UTILITIES menu allows users to perform various modeling and display functions. As an example, the user may add Arrows or Comments on the screen for additional information when creating JPEG or GIF image files.

 

An important feature of the UTILITIES menu is the SETUP command. This command allows the user to specify display and model database characteristics. From this menu the user may specify the model type and global parameters to be applied to the model.

 

On the SETUP menu, the user may specify the analysis program for the current database. This function defines the menus that will be displayed, as well as the content of those menus. As an example, when the NASTRAN option is selected for this command, the menus will then contain the material types, element types, and boundary conditions that pertain to NASTRAN models. All analysis parameters will also be specified in a manner consistent with NASTRAN. If the user selects LS-DYNA, similarly, all menus, material models, contact types, and element types will be consistent with LS-DYNA models.